There are two tournaments going on in the Desert this week:the husband/wife 109/120/140 combined age Grass Court nationals…and that other tournament in Indian Wells, some ATP/WTA event.

I picked up a friend Canadian Erin Boynton, at PSP (Palm Springs airport ) who flew in for a conference, and we visited both tournament sites. The grass tournament in Rancho Mirage is being held at the Mission Hills CC. The Zebots and Abel’s were playing as we walked up; top seeds Pail and Chris French play tomorrow.

Next up was a visit to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Parking was confusing. Once we sorted that out we wandered the large grounds and saw Ostapenko, Thiem, Cibulkova, Canadian Gabby Dabrowski, Schiavone and more. The names of the player who reserved the court was listed which was helpful. A bunch of ATP players were playing soccer..well a few players and a lot of coaches. It was fun to see the players up close practicing. More tomorrow when I have a “real” camera with me! Great weather by the way..sunny, 70s, calm.